Will Smith movie spends $5M in Humboldt County; County film commissioner touts production's local spending

After months of preparation and nine days of filming in April, the upcoming Will Smith sci-fi action movie "After Earth" spent $5 million in Humboldt County -- an amount that county film commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine says could ripple outward through the local economy until it represents an investment of up to three times that amount.

Hesseltine says she's excited about future opportunities and her role in keeping the county a destination for film productions large and small.

Hesseltine said the film's director, M. Night Shyamalan, its producer and its location manager all loved the redwoods, the shops and the restaurants on the North Coast.

"All of that plays into their experience," she said, adding that it's a crucial part of getting crews back up here. "That has a trickle effect. It's amazing how small the location manager world is. If an area's bad, they'll know that."

California Film Commissioner Amy Lemisch agreed.

"This business runs a lot on word of mouth," she said.

And while Lemisch hasn't heard an uptick of buzz about Humboldt County as a location recently, she said it will always serve specific creative needs with its lush redwood forests.

Sony Pictures, the film's producer, spent $5 million in Humboldt County over the course of months of scouting, preparation and shooting, Hesseltine said. The production paid for local products and services including gas and hotel rooms. And the crew proved eager to explore the area, seeking out local restaurants and bars in droves during off hours.

The state requires that local film commissions provide a free service for all productions.

That makes Hesseltine's job tricky. The commission covers salaries, travel and operating costs with an annual budget that doesn't top $60,000.

But the last two years have seen improvement, and Hesseltine said success stories like "After Earth" may help convince local governments of the importance of the commission's many functions.

"One of our roles is to not only make sure the production is happy, but to make sure the [local] business is happy," she said.

Permit issues nearly ground the April production to a halt, and Hesseltine had to help when issues arose with a local hotel that was housing dozens of crew members.

"Within a week, there were three major examples of why [the film commission] exists," she said.

Both Hesseltine and Lemisch touted the multiplier effect -- the way incoming money circulates throughout the county -- which they said can generate indirect spending of up to three times the $5 million amount.

Humboldt State University economics professor Steven Hackett said it all depends on how much spending stays local.

He estimated that a multiplier effect of one and a half to two was more reasonable, but added that different sectors of the economy produce different results.

"It varies a fair amount," Hackett said. "We tend to see smaller multipliers at the county level, bigger in the state and even bigger nationally."

Wages paid to crew members visiting from Los Angeles largely leak out of the area, whereas goods and services purchased locally stick around.

"The more they could source locally, the bigger the impact," he said.

Film stands out, Hackett said, in that it is a true injection of money to the economy.

People may say that a new restaurant opening creates spending, but it's really just a redistribution of spending at other restaurants in the area, Hackett said.

A visiting film crew brings in brand new dollars.

"Those are truly jobs and impact that wouldn't have happened up here," Hackett said.

At a glance:

"After Earth" casts Will Smith and his 13-year-old son, Jaden, as an estranged father and son whose spaceship crash-lands on Earth 1,000 years after the planet has become uninhabitable. Jaden Smith's character then reportedly has to traverse the post-apocalyptic planet in order to save his father. The film has been slated for release in the summer of 2013.